JPMorgan Profit, Revenue Beat Wall Street Estimates

CNBC.com with Reuters

Friday, 12 Oct 2012 | 7:56 AM ETCNBC.com

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CNBC.com

JPMorgan Chase reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations on Friday as the company began to put the "London Whale" trading losses in the past and looked ahead to an improving housing market.

The company posted third-quarter earnings per share of $1.40 compared with $1.02 in the year-earlier period. The earnings translated to a net income of $5.71 billion, up from $4.62 billion, or $1.02 a share, from the same period a year ago.

Revenue rose to $25.86 billion compared to $24.37 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of $1.24 a share on $24.53 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

The 34 percent earnings increase came as the largest U.S. bank made more home loans.

Company CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement that he believes "the housing market has turned the corner."

"The exceptional power of our franchise is evident in the solid foundation of our fortress balance sheet and the tremendous capacity of JPMorgan Chase to support our customers and communities around the world while making significant investments for the future, " he said.

The company said it recorded a "modest loss" in the quarter on its so-called London Whale derivatives portfolio, which had lost $5.8 billion this year through June. It said it may lose about $300 million more in the fourth quarter.

Revenue from mortgage production was $1.8 billion, up 36 percent from a year earlier, excluding losses for buying back bad mortgage loans sold in the past to investors.

U.S. banks have been enjoying a surge in demand from homeowners to refinance mortgage loans at lower interest rates.

Wells Fargo and JPMorgan are the first two major banks to report earnings in what is forecast to be one of the worst quarterly seasons for companies since late 2009.